Dimensions Reporting Services
All your reporting needs - covered
Overview
Dimensions provides a modular suite to provide businesses with the most flexible and complete reporting service available. It takes complex reporting requirements and turns them into a series of intuitive steps, eliminating the frustrating and time-consuming practice of data extraction and re-keying to make report production a simple process. Available in an array of formats to suit your working practices, Dimensions Reporting Services addresses every reporting need - from the production and deployment of monthly management reports to ad-hoc and by-exception requirements through easy-to-use two-way linking with Microsoft Office.
Dimensions Reporting Services provides the technology to deploy report production to every individual and every department, so providing powerful two-fold benefits to your staff. By spreading the availability of reports throughout an organisation, more people have access to key business information when they want it; and by removing much of the burden from IT and financial departments, your staff in these departments have time to pursue value-added activities.
Key Benefits
• Time savings - you need enter data only once and any changes you make will be made across the system; seamless links allow data from Excel to be written directly into the accounts with a single click
• Real-time information - with Dimensions' integration capacities, all data is live at the same time so that changes in one part of the system automatically update the rest - meaning the information you use within your reports is always up-to-date
• Industry-standard - integration with Crystal offers the highest-quality reporting facilities for formal management reports
• Full customisation options as standard - format your reports in a way that suits your exact needs. Dimensions Reporting Services presents accounts data graphically, so you decide how the picture is formatted, who gets to see it, and precisely what it shows.
• Extensive drill-down options - Dimensions Reporting Services provides flexible interrogation methods, so from a single starting point - e.g a summary of sales by region - you can move in any direction, answering each successive question within seconds
• Drive your productivity and profitability - built-in KPIs enable you to sest productivity targets and monitor performance across your entire organisation
Management Reporting
The production of weekly, monthly and yearly management reports and board packs is integral to the decision-making processes of any business. The Crystal reporting functionality is tailor-made for this purpose, generating reports that are comprehensive, easy-to-understand and simple to distribute. System-wide sort keys enable you to establish the guidelines for management reporting and transactions can be searched, sorted and sub-totalled with ease. They can be analysed to an unlimited number of headings and allocated to any number of projects or cost centres.
Drill-down
You can interrogate your data in sophisticated ways, drilling down on an individual account to display double entry details, allocation history and source documents for every transaction. The Nominal Ledger includes comprehensive budget facilities and highly flexible reversing, recurring and profile journals.
Flexible enquiries
In every part of your system, information is represented in the clearest way possible. You can open an enquiry window at any time without freezing or cancelling the work in progress. Your enquiry can cover a single record or a collection, and you can choose to view information at either header or line detail level. Pursue your enquiry in any direction, from nominal balance through to source transaction.
Analytics
In addition, the Access Analytics functionality provides staff with a highly functional alternative to pivot tables, using 'data cube' technology to view different elements of your data without creating separate spreadsheets. Data cubes can be distributed to key decision makers, allowing them to view the data they want without making repeat reporting requests.
Smart Tags
Pre-defined summaries of any aspect of a record, delivered via 'Smart Tag' technology are a key element of Dimensions Reporting Services. Information, such as profit history, turnover summaries, and order books are displayed in an easy-to-read graphical format. This information is easily accessed, whether you are working within the accounts, or via an embedded link within any part of the Microsoft Office suite.
Dashboard
Monitor key information, such as your top ten performing customers or your ten slowest-moving products without the need to be logged into your accounts system. Dimensions Reporting Services can publish this data to your email homepage or to a website (such as your intranet), using Microsoft Sharepoint technology, giving you the flexibility to view this information whenever and wherever you are.
360° Views
Transactions can also be viewed from Dimensions' unique 360° facility. These work alongside standard enquiry screens to reveal how the chosen item fits into the flow of your accounting activity. In the case of a purchase order, you would be able to see goods received notes, associated stock movements and all other relevant information, bringing speed and efficiency to every enquiry.
Reporting on the move
Modern working practices mean that many more people are able to work at home, on the move, at all hours. If access to this information is only available through back-office systems, then you are putting your workforce at a disadvantage. The web-enabled reporting facility within Dimensions Reporting Services provides the power and flexibility of Crystal reports with easy distribution via the web.
Learn more about the web-enabled Reporting module
Ad-hoc enquiries
Many organisations place the responsibility for ad-hoc reports onto their IT departments, since they require specialist technical knowledge. Remove the burden with a choice of two highly configurable reporting tools. If you prefer to work within the familiar environment of Microsoft Office, Dimensions Reporting Services integrates seamlessly with Excel and Word. This allows everyone with a knowledge of Microsoft Office to generate their own reports at will. Easily accesible, intuitive menus within Excel enable you to identify and access the data that you wish to work with (a set of prices, for example). Having identified which data you want to be downloaded, a single click will populate your Excel spreadsheet with exactly the data you need. Once the data is inside Excel, you can change information where necessary and update the accounts with a single click - all without having to leave Excel.
Alternatively, Dimensions Reporting Services provides executive summaries with over 250 pre-formatted reports complete with trends, statistics, graphs and analysis for greatly improved decision making. This provides the functionality you need to give every one of your staff immediate access to the information they really want, delivered as emails to a schedule that best suits your business processes or available to view via a website.
Learn more about the Executive Desktop module
Executive Desktop Alerts
Dimensions provides the flexibility of by-exception reporting functionality through its alert system, delivering succinct, targeted information on a 'need to know' basis. Whether a stock level goes below your preferred minimum, or a customer places a significant order, you get the rules within the Executive Alert module so that the information is delivered to your desktop the moment it happens.
Learn more about the Executive Desktop Alerts module
